Jayce stood up, stretched, and began working the kinks out of his knees.
“Mom’s getting a little too friendly with the conservationists.I’ll head down and spend the night with her, so we can talk.”
Mavis brightened.“If you’re making a trip to the ranch, you should take Malika with you.She’s a nice girl, but she gets very… enthusiastic about the little things we take for granted, and she likes to keep busy.A long trail ride would do her some good.”
Which was Mavis’s way of saying that she found Malika exhausting and she needed a break.
Jayce felt a wee bit of guilt for spending so much time on bank renovations, where his help wasn’t needed, to avoid spending time with Malika.Dave and his buddies had everything under control, and he was supposed to be keeping watch over Malika, not Mavis.
But Malika hadn’t been her usual self since the night of the hayride, either.She hadn’t sought him out just to make his life hell, and a sick, twisted part of him missed it.Four hours alone on the trail with her, then an entire evening on the ranch watching television with his mother, who went to bed by eight thirty…
It would give him a chance to find out what was up.
“I’d be happy to take her along,” he said.
And the funny thing was, he really meant it.
*
Malika was waitingat the stable for him the next morning.
He was impressed.She’d brought their horses in from the pasture and had Saber almost saddled.The normally docile buckskin, knowing he was going out for a ride, danced like a toddler at dawn on Christmas morning.He nipped at her braided hair, earning a swat on the neck, then a long, loving stroke of her palm.
“Who’s a good boy?”she murmured, pressing her cheek to his glossy black mane in a way that had Jayce’s throat tightening up.
Since they were leaving Burning Scrub for the next twenty-four hours, there was no need for her to remain in costume.She wore tight blue jeans a few inches too short, and an oversized man’s sweatshirt with a theater logo on it that hit her mid-thigh, meaning she’d gotten her clothing from Pearl.
Jayce wore his everyday clothes in Burning Scrub.He didn’t need a costume as long as nothing had zippers, and watching the way she stroked Saber made the button-up fly on his jeans fit too snug.
She saw him and smiled.It was polite and withdrawn and held none of the temptation that normally sizzled from her to rattle his brain, and he missed it.
“Morning,” he said.
He handed her a can and a nylon holster.She looked at the label on the can, and her eyes held a question.
“Bear spray.You should carry it and know how to use it.Strictly precautionary,” he hastened to add, because she was a city girl, and there was no need to scare her.“As a rule, bears tend to avoid people.”
“That’s an excellent rule,” she said.
“Agreed.”
He showed her how to flick the safety off the can with her thumb, then aim the nozzle.
“Don’t pull the trigger,” he said.“You’ll blind the horses.You only pull the trigger if a bear is charging at you, because you’ll likely get sprayed too.Wait until it’s about fifty feet away.Aim slightly down, not at it, and fan the spray like this, in a sweeping motion, so the bear has to pass through the spray to get at you.If that doesn’t stop it, only then do you spray a bear in the face.”Spraying it in the face wasn’t going to do anything unless it got a good snoutful, because a bear relied more on its sense of smell than its eyesight.
He didn’t explain because he didn’t intend for her to use the spray.It was a precaution because his dad had seen bear markings midway down the trail.
They also had to do a wellness check on the research scientist, who’d set up a new camp about a mile from the trail, according to Cliff Peterson, the fish and game warden.
“That little guy’s going to get himself eaten,” Cliff had said, shaking his head.“He thinks because he’s read a few books that he can predict animal behavior, but bears can be as batshit crazy as people.Just because he’s not on the daily menu doesn’t mean they won’t give him a try.”
Jayce saddled Side-eye and they were soon on their way.It had rained during the night, and droplets of water dripped from the leaves as they passed through the trees.
They rode for an hour before Jayce spotted the bear markings his dad had told him about and saw the trail of carnage the scientist left behind him, because he’d been here too.Jayce shook his head.No following animal paths to minimize his forest footprint for this scientist.He took the direct route.
“We’re going to take a short detour and check on that scientist we ran into when we rode up here,” Jayce said to Malika.
“The little out-of-stater?”
